


Twin

by ThatOneOverThere



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Family, Hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 04:38:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15598455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneOverThere/pseuds/ThatOneOverThere
Summary: What if Emma had a twin brother that had been left behind in the Enchanted Forest? What if he had been found and raised by Cora? There's a brief retelling of the end of 01x01 but the main story picks up at the end of 02x09 (Queen of Hearts).





	1. Chapter 1

As soon as James left the room with Emma in his arms, Snow felt another contraction. Her eyes snap up towards Doc.

"What was that?" He shook his head.

"It can't be," he mumbles to himself.

"What?" Snow shouts, in pain and scared she just wants to know what was happening.

"Twins," Doc replies almost silently. "Snow, you're having twins." He says only slightly louder but she hears him. Her jaw drops and shuts as another contraction rips through her.

Moments later Doc places a blond baby boy in her arms and leaves to check on his brothers. Snow just sits there staring in awe at the little bundle in her arms. She could have sat there forever just staring if not for the whirling of black smoke picking up speed outside her windows. Carefully trying not to stir the baby in her arms, she rolls off the bed and manages to make it to Emma's nursery.

Before she understands what's happening she moves as fast as she can to kneel beside her husband bleeding on the floor.

"No," She whispers. "No, please come back to me… to us." Snow looks down at her child. "You have to meet our son." She leans down to kiss him trying to wake him but did nothing.

"Oh, don't worry dear," the Evil Queen steps into the room with a flourish of black, "in a few moments you won't remember you knew him let alone loved him." She stops in front of the small family and looks down smiling.

"Why did you do this?" Snow asks.

"Because this is my happy ending," she leans over and her smile widens. "And it looks like the child won't be a problem." Two guards enter the room cautiously through the door behind their Queen.

"We're sorry we let the child escape through the wardrobe." Not looking up they didn't spot the other child in Snow's arms that could have saved their lives.

"What do you mean?" the Queen asks. "The things right there." She gestures towards Snow who she now realises is smiling at the wardrobe.

"She got away." She looks up to Regina whose smile has faded, "You're going to lose."

"I don't understand then who's that?"

"This is Emma's twin brother but she's the saviour and she has already gone." Snow looks down and smiles at the two boys in her arms. "Good always wins."

Regina's smile reappears on her face making Snow's waver slightly.

"We'll see about that but there's one thing you should know before we leave." Snow's stomach drops knowing that something bad will come of the Evil Queen ever growing smile. "Since I didn't know…" she points at the boy with a sneer, "he existed when I cast the curse he won't be included." Her sneer returns to a smile when she sees her enemies face drop.

"No, Regina, you can't leave him here alone please just change it." Snow cries as she holds her baby closer.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't." She steps closer to Snow. "Even if the saviour breaks my curse you'll never see your son again."

The Evil Queen laughs as she looks up to watch the roof being torn off by the black smoke of her curse. The wind howls around them making it almost impossible to hear Snow ask.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere horrible," the Queen replies just before the windows smash inwards, a small shard catching the baby's right eyebrow drawing blood, "absolutely horrible, a place where the only happy ending will be mine." The smoke engulfs them transporting them to their new land and away from the crying baby left on the floor.

\------------------------

He stood watching the fight from the trees staying out of sight as instructed. He'd also removed his black armour and changed into something less terrifying, again as instructed, but still had his sword on his hip. His left hand resting on its pommel and his right running through his dirty blond hair trying to remove the soreness his helmet has caused. He lets his hand drop but as always traces a finger over the scar on his eyebrow.

The commands come from the woman who currently has her hand inside the blonde's chest cavity, she was aiming for another woman's heart, but she would make due. He trusts Cora not to crush it before he can meet the woman and possible crush it himself but what happens next put all doubts of that out of his mind.

A pulse of magic erupts from the blonde throwing Cora away and causing her to land harshly on her back. He'd have laughed in another situation but his escape from this land depends on that portal staying open. He ignores the command ringing in his ears 'do not let them see you until I say, no matter what!' Although the two women have a brief but heated discussion, the raven-haired one looking reluctant to leave, they jump into the whirlpool before he has a chance to stop them. He changes his angle slightly and kneels down next to Cora.

"Are you all right?" She slaps his helpful hand away from her.

"Why did you not come to help sooner?" She says standing up without help; anger almost a constant mark on her face.

"But-" he cuts himself off before he says too much but as soon as he opens his mouth it is already too late. Cora's hand raises and so does the blond man in front of her. He doesn't even try to struggle, he will let Cora think she has the power until he needs it.

"But…But what, Adam?" She doesn't expect him to finish what he's saying so he replies with what will let him go.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't fast enough." She gives one last squeeze of the air in her grip causing the invisible hold on him to tighten and a whimper to escape his lips before she lets go and turns before he hits the ground.

"We failed." She say's staring at the small body of water before her.

"Really, Cora," Hook joins her. "After all this time why do you still doubt me?" He pulls out something from his coat.

"That bean's petrified, it's useless." She replies as Adam regains his composure and steps as close to her as he dares right now.

"But these water's have regenerative properties. Perhaps it's time to do some gardening."

\--------------------

Before Adam has a chance to protest Hook's demands of bringing his ship, he was already on board and through the portal. The magic felt different in this new land. It was there but weak it doesn't seem to faze Cora and Hook could never notice but it makes Adam uneasy. He will have to practice a little magic in this world to get used to it.

Hook is standing smugly on deck using his spyglass to watch the ever-growing shoreline of their destination. Cora to the right of him watching the horizon and Adam, still angry about her use of magic on him, trying to stay out of her way stood on the opposite side a little further back.

He has wanted to see this place for a very large portion of his life, ever since he'd been able to understand the curse that'd left him behind. Now he was finally here his excitement bubble under his skin waiting to hear Cora's plan of how she was going help him get revenge on the people that'd deserted him. He doesn't speak up though; she'll tell him when he needs to know, as she always has.


	2. Chapter 2

The night after they arrive in town Adam is sent to the diner to interrupt a party. Just as he's about to turn into the diner's outside seating area the door opens. He falters slightly and walks forward casually trying to ignore the brunette that was exiting the building. He turns the corner and stops waiting for her to leave. He knows who she is he's seen her painting in her castle when he was exploring the time frozen land. He's always admired the fear she still holds over their land even after being absent for so long. He notices that she seems to have lost some of her ferocity. _Maybe it's the costume change_ , he thinks to himself. Maybe it’s the flustered look.

Adam doesn't dare look around the corner when he hears another person leaving the diner but he knows her voice. He'd heard it a couple of times while he'd been spying on her for Cora.

The voices are loud at first but become faint and he can only hear the occasional word breakthrough. Henry being one of them but he was sure they aren't referring to the Evil Queen's father. The part with the argument being slightly soothed. There was still an uncomfortable angry tone to their voices. Regina walks in the opposite direction from him. He came out from his hiding stopping again to watch his sister as she pauses briefly trying calming herself before returning to the party.

Walking up to the main door he pauses much as Emma did but for different reasons. He takes a deep breath. He's not nervous for the reasons most people in his situation would be nervous for. He doesn't think many if any people have been in this situation before. The meeting his family part he can do. The convincing them of his lies part is another matter. He hates feeling nervous. He doesn't feel in control. It's very rare for him to feel it when not facing Cora.

He hopes they're not as good at noticing lies as he is.

He releases the breath, opens the door, and steps in.

It doesn't take long for all eyes to land on him, but all he focuses on is their smiles. Snow's in particular. He knows that she had been told her son was dead less than a couple days ago. Cora had told them hoping it would hurt them. It doesn't seem to have dampened the party spirit, though. Adam's fists clench at his sides luckily he's pulled back from thought by a voice.

"Can we help you?" Emma asks with slight confusion standing by the counter with a child at her side.

"Erm…" He turns his head back to Snow not taking much effort for him to sound nervous. "I was looking for Snow White." Her smile falters briefly when her eyebrows furrow but she steps forward and away from the man she'd been talking with.

"Do I know you?" The knife twists and her eyes flit over the scar on his right eyebrow.

"No, err well…my name's Adam…Adam White." Her eyes widen, his last name giving it away. "I'm your son." She's been steadily closing the gap between them since Adam stated his last name but now she is right in front of him.

She's oblivious to all the sceptical glares coming from around the room, the most piecing coming from the blonde to his right, although Adam notices he focuses on Snow. She raises her hands to his cheeks. Adam almost dodges before he realises it's not meant to harm. There's too much tenderness in the movement. Her right -hand goes higher after a moment and runs over the scar that divides his eyebrow in half.

Her eyes twitch in recognition.

"I was hoping you know how I got it." Her eye's snap back to his when she realises she was staring. She gives him a sad smile.

"A bit of glass caught you when the curse was taking hold." She puts her hand back on his cheek. "Adam," she whispers testing the word. His name sounds foreign to him coming from her but it's filled with an unfamiliar warmth that Adam had never heard accompanying his name before. He doesn't like it though; it brings back pain he'd all but numbed years ago as a child.

Snow smiles and pulls him into a hug, before he can do anything she's sobbing into his chest.

"I'm sorry," she sniffs. "I'm so sorry." Adam stands frozen anger gripping him. What gives her the right to be sad now? She thought him dead moments ago and didn't seem fazed at all.

He shouldn't have come here he's going to ruin the plan if he doesn't hold in his anger. Thankfully, someone brings him back to reality again.

"Snow?" the man she'd been talking to before had managed to step closer while Adam hadn't been focusing. He recognises him from the portrait that hung in their castle back home. Snow breaks away from Adam and holds him at arm's length for a long moment before she smiles, and turns to her prince.

"Adam," she says still holding his left arm, "this is your father." Adam wasn't sure how to greet him so he raises his hand but David pushes it away with a wide smile and hugs him. _What's with all the hugging?_ Adam thinks. Snow joins the hug and Adam has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. The hug would have most likely lasted longer but it was interrupted by the sceptical blonde.

"Wait, slow down, we were told you were dead." They pull away from Adam but Snow still doesn't release his arm not wanting him to be a dream.

Adam lets out a heavy sigh. "Let me guess, Cora?"

"Why would she? How did you get here? When did-"

"Emma!" Snow gives her daughter a stern look. "Let him get his bearing first." Emma looks down and mumbles sorry.

"Can I ask a question?" Adam asks and Emma nods. Adam looks at his sister and asks, "Who are you?" He feels the grip on his arm tighten.

He knows that would hurt her, it's one of the reasons he asks, but also because he has to pretend he doesn't know who Emma is.

Emma puts her hands into her pockets looking taken back for a second or two realising she hasn't introduced herself to her brother.

"Oh…umm," she stumbles over her words and looks at Snow unsure of herself, which Adam is sure didn't happen that often. Or at least she doesn't normally let it show.

"This is Emma, your twin sister."

Adam lets his jaw slack slightly and stays silent for several seconds trying to fight back the awkward feeling of staring at someone hopefully making everyone think he's stunned by the revelation.

"Oh…umm," Adam mimics his sister.

Emma raises her hand and Adam hesitates.

"I'm not really a hugger." He finally takes her hand.

"Neither am I." Adam smiles as warmly as he is able to. Emma returns it but only to hide her uncertainty; Adam sees it but none of the onlookers notice. The kid next to Emma nudges her with his elbow.

"Oh," Emma leads the boy in front of her by his shoulders and squeezes gently, "This is Henry, my son." Adam kneels down to look the kid in the eye forcing a reluctant Snow to release her grip. He has never dealt with children, that wasn't either running away or hiding behind their parents, before.

"Hello, Henry." His nephew breaks free of his own mother's grip and wraps his arms tightly around his uncle's shoulders almost making them to fall.

"I knew you couldn't be dead," his voice full of genuine happiness. Adam squirms awkwardly for a moment trying to get his balance back before returning the hug.

"I guess the hugging thing skips a generation." Adam hears several chuckles as he releases Henry and looks up to find a weirdly happy look fall over Emma. Henry steps back with the biggest and brightest smile Adam has ever seen as he looks up at his mum.

"Told you so," he beams, causing Emma's smile to grow as she rolls her eyes and pulls him back into a half hug her arm over his chest, almost around his neck. Snow returns her hand to Adam's arm as he stands, but is now on the other side, and squeezes. Her touch makes Adam flinch ever so slightly but Snow and Emma notice.

There were a few moments of silence until Emma picks up the enquiry again.

"So, how did you get here?" Snow rolls her eyes at Emma and receives a shrug and a silent 'what', but then the attention returns to Adam both curious about his reply.

"I was travelling through the forest when I ran into some people who lived on that island. They'd been out hunting when they'd returned everyone was dead. They told me they'd had Cora locked up and that two strangers had appeared one calling herself Snow White. I tracked you passed a giant bean stork to a lake where I was just in time to see you jump in." Emma's brow furrows again and Adam wonders if that was just her normal face.

"The portal closed as soon as we went through it, so how did you _actually_ get here?" Her tone isn't lost on Adam and apparently Snow because she threw a confused and slightly angry look towards her daughter.

"Hook had a petrified bean which I was able to steal and since Cora had returned the water of the regeneration lake," Adam shrugs. "I took a shot." Emma noticeable relaxes not detecting a lie.

"Hook must have taken it from Anton," Emma whispers to herself. She sees the confusion flick through Adam's eyes and explains, "He's the giant that lives at the top of that bean stork." Adam shows his understanding with a nod.

"Okay," David says stepping forward, "but I thought time stood still over there just like it did here. How are you the same age as Emma?"

"Actually," Adam starts with a slight smile trying to hide the surprise of the intelligent question coming from the prince, "I'm a couple of years younger." His smile widens as more confusion fills the room, he tries to keep the happy darkness out of his eyes. "I was found in your castle when a couple of people that'd been left behind," _like me_ , "were trying to find you," he gestures at his parents. "I'm not really sure exactly what happened but I ended up with a small bit of wood that someone turned into a pendant that was put on a necklace. When I met Cora for the first time, she's told me it was a piece of the wardrobe that had transported Emma. Apparently, it'd stopped the curse from affecting me while I wore it allowing me to age normally."

"So how are you a couple of years younger than me?"

"I lost the necklace about three years ago during a particularly rough fight with some ogres." Snow's grip tightens again at the mention of the fight. She is going to leave a mark if she flinches at everything he tells her.

Adam notes how weird it feels telling them the truth for once; he saw no reason to lie about it. Well, except for about who had found him.

"You seem to know Cora quite well," Emma says, suspicious again.

"I've had a few run-ins with her over the years."

"She didn't follow you, did she?" Adam shakes his head.

"No, I don't think so, I can't sense her magic."

"You have magic?" Snow's hand loosens on his arm as she moves away ever so slightly.

"Yes, do neither of you?" Adam asks knowing exactly what their answer is going to be. They shake their head and look at each other than Emma. "Wait, but then how do I? I always just assumed I got it from one of you two. That's how it normally works."

"Emma has magic," Henry states receiving a glare from his mother. He either didn't see it or just ignores it because he continues smiling, "But that's because she's the saviour." That is also why she was the one with no evil in her and the one in the wardrobe. The reason she got the better life, witnessed less death, and caused less.

"Maybe it's a twin thing," Henry adds after a moment of thought.

"Could be, kid," Emma smiles at him.

Adam yawns catching his parent's attention.

"We should probably continue this tomorrow you look tired," David says while Snow nods.

"Yes, I should find a place for the night."

"What? No, you're staying with us," Snow says with an 'isn't that obvious' smile.

"Oh, I," Adam stumbles genuinely surprised by the offer. He's a stranger to them. Why would they trust him to stay in their home?

"Mary, I don’t think there's enough room," Emma interjects, confusing Adam more with the name she uses. Emma notices, "When Regina, the Queen, cursed everyone she gave them new names." She points at snow, "Mary Margaret," then at charming, "David."

"Oh, is it alright if I stick to your non-curse name? They're the only ones I've ever used."

"Of course," David says smiling, "But my name is actually David. It's a long story I'll tell you later."

"You could always," Snow starts nervously and pause's thinking of how to continue. "You could both always just call us mum and dad." Adam and Emma's eyes find each other's immediately, shocking both of them at how natural it feels looking to the other for help with their parents. "I mean, if you want to. When you're ready know that you can, okay?"

Feeling awkward, they agree that there is enough room if the floor was put to use.

\-------------

As soon as they are through the door Henry runs in and grabs his book excited to show his uncle. Next, he drags Adam around the loft explaining what the different things are and how to use them. Henry tries to explain how the lights and electricity works but just ends up call it science magic and moves on to the T.V., which was his favourite. Watching, as Adam can't understand how the picture is displayed.

Adam is standing in the kitchen leaning against the counter watching Henry get ready for bed, after a small disagreement with Emma, when she joins him.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Emma asks with a haunting sound echoing in her voice.

"That is an understatement."

They're silent for a few moments just watching the others move about the loft as if everything is normal and they'd done this routine a million times.

"Did you have any family back in the Enchanted Forest?" Emma asks with no ulterior motive evident in the actions other than getting to know her brother.

"Not really. It was chaotic, no one knew what was going on, and so no one really claimed me. I was just passed around until I was old enough to be on my own, then I left."

"That's pretty much how it went for me as well, but with running water and electricity." They smile understanding each other but both feeling uneasy about the other.

Snow sees them talking and smiling out of the corner of her eye and tugs at David's sleeve getting his attention. They smile warmly watching their children happily interact for the first time.

Adam said he'd take the floor explaining that he was used to it but Emma offers him her bed after a look from Snow and David. Adam tries to refuse wanting to be close to the door but after a while, Henry sets it up for himself and lies down as Emma falls onto the couch.

\-------------------------

Adam lay in bed, an extremely comfortable bed, trying to run through the events of the last couple of hours. He was expecting more resistance. How are they so trusting? Emma seems to be the only intelligent one in the family. He's a good liar but they really should be more suspicious of him.

He thinks about telling Cora where he is by teleporting a note to Hook's ship but she most likely knows exactly where he is. She always does. She has a need to control everything around her. She would use his heart if she could and it surprises him that she doesn't take the pirate's for her own. She must think his need for revenge against Rumple is strong enough for her to keep a hold on him.

Somehow, the thoughts fade and he drifts off to sleep.


End file.
